Jan Brett was born on December 1, 1949 in Hingham, Massachusetts. She went to school at Colby Junior College from 1968-1969 and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School in 1970. Today, she lives in the seacoast town of Norwell, Massachusetts, an historic area on the South Shore, and spends her summers in the mountains where she does a lot of work on her books. She writes her own books and also adapts and illustrates folktales. As an illustrator, she does the illustrations of books by other authors as well. For those of us who love her books, we can appreciate the many hours she spends in putting many details in her books. That's important to her, too. It takes her about a year to finish one book.

Jan Brett loved to draw when she was a child. By the time she was six years old, she knew she wanted to be a children's book illustrator. She was shy as a child and liked to use her drawings as a way to express herself. Her very first book to be published was Fritz and the Beautiful Horses in 1981. She wrote the book and drew the pictures. She loves animals and had many pets when she was a child which she now puts in her books. Most of her books have something to share about animal or nature. She also uses very old folktales from other countries. Although you will find many emotions, such as sadness, in her books, she always gives a hopeful message. In illustrating her books, her trademark is using detailed borders and side panels. She includes lots of details which add to the story in her borders. She has said that these borders and side panels hold her "overflow of thoughts."

Jan Brett likes to travel with her family. She uses some of her experiences in her writing. She also uses libraries to do research on the things about which she is writing. Her husband, who works at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, also likes to travel with her. He was her inspiration for the book, Berlioz, the Bear.